When (or if) a vaccine for Covid-19 is developed, would you have it? ?

I have had the flu jab since I have been older and the pneumonia jab a few years ago ( apparently lasts 10 years) I have had others over the years but don’t react well to jabs on the whole, often having a sore , and sometimes infected arm. I’m not sure about this one I would take a lot of advice before I made up my mind

I'm definitely not an antivaxxer. My childeren had all of theirs and I happily have the flu jab every year. At the beginning of the year I felt a vaccine would be the only way I could resume a normal life. Now I must admit I'm cautious. We have brilliant minds in this country which may be able to quickly find a vaccine alongside other countries.
I do wonder if a vaccine will be found in the near future or whether it's just a crumb of hope that probably wont materialize for a long time.
Sadly I have lost confidence in the government due to how they have behaved during this pandemic. I was never a Conservative voter but always felt a government would act in the best interests of its citizens.
After the debacles of the past few months and seeing their attitude towards societies most vulnerable citizens I'm probably more suspicious than is good for me.
Vaccination has been problematical in the past. I know their were issues with injections given soldiers in the Gulf War. Thalidomide? Providos? I think there is a big difference between an established vaccine and one that is developed in an emergency. I think I would half expect one of Boris's family to be benefitting from the drug companies involved. Silly I know.
Would it be an idea for the vaccine to offered to the younger groups of adults who seem to be more likely to spread the virus?

News today that USSR has been giving a new vaccine against Covid 19 and so far say results are good. Rather small group and very early days.
Still think we need to forget about a vaccine for at least another year and concentrate efforts on treatment of those who are ill with this disease. Seems that this is improving greatly and death rates are falling quickly.

With prospects of a COVID-19 vaccine looking up, attention is also turning to the problem of anti-vax ideas. According to a recent survey, one in six Britons would refuse a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available. Although vaccine hesitancy is a complex problem with multiple causes, the number of conspiracy theories circulating about the coronavirus do not help.

The fight against COVID-19-related conspiracy theories will be fought on multiple fronts. It requires a broad public health campaign and for social-media companies to control the spread of disinformation. But all of us can play a part in this effort. Most people will know someone who has succumbed to conspiracy theories about the current crisis.

theconversation.com/ive-been-talking-to-conspiracy-theorists-for-20-years-here-are-my-six-rules-of-engagement-143132

It has been pointed out that most of the anti vacc’ers wouldn’t be alive or even exist if it hadn’t been for various vaccinations over the years.

Sarah Dunant's Point of View

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000mlwl

I definitely wouldn't have it. I do have the flu jab but they are known and safe, but I'm concerned that the small amount of testing being carried out is apparently carried out on healthy volunteers (for whom risks are potentially much lower).

I’d be at the front of the queue

I'm not an anti vaccination person, far from it. But I do t know if I'd trust the American version if it was offered, nor the Russian one come to that!

I’d have it. If there are unpleasant side- or long-term effects, better for (fairly) oldies like me to try it first and suffer them, rather than than anyone needing to earn a living or with dependent children.

For heaven's sake! The chances of suffering serious side effects from a vaccine are miniscule compared to the likely outcome for oldies contracting Covid-19. For me it's a no-brainer. Like flu vaccine it's not going to be be totally effective but I'd rather have something that gave me a chance of getting back to normal life than the current existing we're having to put up with.

I'll fight Lucca for the front of the queue. I do hope it's sooner rather than later. I am really wound up now about having to go through this state of limbo all over again.

Yes, worth any possible risk. Need to do something so that the generations that follow have a future.

What choice is there if we want to get on with our lives?

Some people are so paranoid.

Dorsetcupcake61 Thalidomide wasn't given as a vaccine. It was a drug which had very good results in stopping severe nausea - but it hadn't been tested on pregnant women. So when it was prescribed for bad morning sickness, the results had not been foreseen.

It will very much depend on whether or not it is a live vaccine or not!

The Oxford vaccine is unlike any previous one, so can't be directly compared.

Still, any vaccine won't be 'the answer' and end the pandemic.

Immunity after Coronavirus infection is very short lived - so we can't expect vaccination to be long lasting. It would be wonderful, though, just to have a few months of freedom to hug and kiss all my relatives. I'd risk a vaccine!

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-first-vaccines-unlikely-to-end-pandemic-says-uk-vaccines-chief-12103362

*Callistemon - my thoughts entirely*

Tell you what, once I hear HM and H had it I will follow suit.

Someone has to be the guinea pig even after years of trials. This time Covid19 will not have had time to do long trials - hence the elderly and vulnerable go first.

I have never had the flu jab because I have never had flu and have lived through several flu epidemics without getting it while living in high risk circumstances.

This year I am having the flu jab because although there is no connection between flu and COVID and the flu jab offers no immunity from it, there is some evidence that the flu jab stimulates the immune system and those that later get COVID are more likely to have it mildly.

If a COVID vaccination becomes available, I will have it like a flash. I see no point in cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I have no time for anti-vaxxers. Vaccination has eliminated smallpox, nearly eliminated polio and could eliminate measles. The number of deaths and disabilities caused by these three diseases is beyond counting, compared with any undeniably attributed to vaccines. My closest friend has a history of hospital admissions for respiratory problems because her lungs were permanently damaged by whooping cough when she was a child.

DH is part of the Oxford COVID programme. He has been vaccinated but we do not know whether he got the COVID jab or the alternative.

Monica I could have written your first two paragraphs!

sparkling silver Someone has to be the guinea pig even after years of trials. This time Covid19 will not have had time to do long trials - hence the elderly and vulnerable go first

DH, 77, overweight and with high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes, currently in remisssion^ is part of the Oxford COVID trial. He is one of at least 20,000 and possibly more people of all ages and states of health in several different countries who have volunteered to be part of the current COVID test programme and the vaccine developers are already looking for volunteers for the challenge phase of the development when fit healthy people will be vaccinated againsts COVID and will then be infected by COVID. They will be in kept hospital when this stage happens. If it is successful they will, no doubt extend the tests.

Yes of course there is always a risk when any new medical drug or procedure goes into general use, but if this hadn't been done, smallpox, polio and measles would still be rampant killing thousands of people every year.

Whatever happens you will be more likely to die of COVID without the vaccine than suffer ill effects from the vaccine itself. I, for one, having done the maths, will be fighting to be at the top of the queue for the vaccine.

I’m definitely not an anti-Vaxxer and have had the flu jab for the last few years. Look at all the dreadful diseases that have been iradicated (or nearly) over time by vaccination programmes. My daughter had all the vaccinations going as a child and now my grandchildren are too. I will be “keen” to have the vaccination for COVID when - it may not be any time soon - it becomes available, but with serious reservations. That is, primarily, is it safe and how long will immunity last? Vaccinations are usually years in the testing and I know that all the stops are being pulled out on this one in various laboratories and various countries. We all want our lives back and let’s hope and pray that an effective vaccine can be rolled out before too long. This pandemic is adversely affecting all our lives in one way of another and my heart goes out to relatives and friends of those who have sadly died or have been very ill with the disease. It still all feels like a bad dream of the Sci-fi kind.

I would have the vaccine, not only for me but to prevent me passing the virus onto someone else.

Yes, no question.